Alexander I

(1777–1825)

   Czar of Russia 1801–25. Alexander was one of the controversial figures of the 19 century. He began his reign with the hope of internal reform but ended it in darkness and oppression. His policy towards the Jews took a similar turn. Realizing that the Jews in those areas of Poland annexed to Russia had been miserably repressed, he set up a committee to consider all aspects of the question. The Jewish Statute, promulgated in 1804, was based on the assumption that the Jews would disappear if encouraged to emerge from their ghetto existence, given secular education and assimilated into Christian cultural life. The statute also called for them to be directed into occupations other than trade, chiefly into factories and agriculture. On the other hand, the law embodied strict regulations restricting the areas where Jews could live, work or own land. This was done allegedly to protect the peasants from exploitation.

   The horrors of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812, and the burning of Moscow, gave the czar’s ill-balanced mind an intensely religious twist. He began a policy of forcing the Jews to convert to Christianity. His reign saw the repression of the Jews increased rather than lessened.